Man with a mission carries cross through Sterling

Joe Shortino walks down Main Street in Sterling with a cross, a crown of thorns and a Shofar, a ram's horn used to blow a "call for welcoming the lord," he said. (David Martinez/Journal-Advocate)

For the past three months, Joe Shortino has carried his cross every day across Colorado's Front Range.

He said the Lord laid on his heart that he was going to build a cross, and He'd lay it on him to carry it. Since then, he's traveled through Loveland, Fort Collins, Windsor, Greeley and Denver, apparently living off the kindness of strangers.

Tuesday afternoon he passed through Sterling, too.

“God meets my needs when I need ‘em. Not a day short, not a day later,” Shortino said, grin stretched across the length of his face. “It's a different way to live. But I'm so free, bro. You can't live freer than what I am.”

The wooden cross, which has a wheel on the end for support, travels with him as he prays for certain houses and relationships and the areas he visits.

He says he'll travel back to Denver or Greeley by Thursday to celebrate the National Day of Prayer (he'll have transportation much of the way), but he won't be the one making the decision.

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